An interview with Samüel Burgess-Johnson (LDN)

We recently caught up with London-based artist Samuel Burgess Johnson about his artistic style, his work, and his thoughts on creativity.

ILU: Please introduce yourself...S: My name is Samuel Burgess-Johnson, I am a designer based in London.

ILU: How would you describe your design style?S: Real hard question to answer without sounding like a tit. I have no real knowledge or interest in the history of design or other designers working now. Just trying to do my own thing, don't really know what 'style' category my work sits in. People have said I am influenced by nature and geometry, which might be true but i'm not conscious of that. My main aim when approaching any new project is for it to be aesthetically pleasing, once the concept and guidelines have been put in place that is all I am thinking about.

ILU: A lot of your work features some stunning photography, do you take the photographs yourself?S: Thank you. Anything that isn't credited to someone else is taken by me or is elements of stock imagery repurposed.

ILU: It seems like a large portion of your work is solely album & single track artwork, do you solely do music related work? and if so, why?S: It started out as just designing for fun. Then friends starting asking me to design album artwork for them, then record labels started asking me. Was never really a conscious decision to only work in this particular field of design but it seems to suit me well. I went for a job interview at Hunger Magazine last year and didn't get it, if they had given it to me I wouldn't have done any of these covers and my life would have been completely different. I always think how lucky it was I didn't get that job!

ILU: What do you do outside of the studio?S: Try to get outside and far away from the computer screen, play football, walk my dog, see friends. Am planning on getting into a bit of furniture design very soon which will be different. I also like to paint, but haven't had space for a while as I only just moved back to the UK and haven't settled yet. I realise I referenced two studio based activities there, I don't get out much haha.

ILU: Any advice you can give to other creatives out there?S: Isolation and hard work will give you amazing results. Creatives need time to experiment and develop their own style, this isn't possible if you are having to work 45 hours a week in an office to make the rent. I moved away for a while, where I could afford a studio and a place to live without too much pressure. This also meant I was away from other distractions and commitments which left me to focus solely on my craft.